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The EMBI in Latin America: Fractional Integration, Non-linearities and Breaks

This paper analyses the main statistical properties of the Emerging Market Bond Index (EMBI), namely long-range dependence or persistence, non-linearities, and structural breaks, in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela). For this purpose it uses a fractional integration framework and both parametric and semiparametric methods. The evidence based on the former is sensitive ...

Earthquakes in the Netherlands Cannot Shake the European Natural Gas Market

The rising number of earthquakes in the northeastern part of the Netherlands has been attributed to the extraction of natural gas from the Groningen field. This has led tostrong opposition to natural gas production from the Dutch population, a matter that is increasingly preoccupying not only policy-makers on the local and provincial levels,but also the central government. In response, the Dutch government ...

Liquefied Natural Gas Will Have to Play a Larger Role in the Future: Six Questions to Franziska Holz

Signals for decarbonisation from COP21 in Paris?

The INDCs are the major vehicle to bring forward climate protection. They include national policy approaches and will need a follow up. If there is agreement in Paris that INDCs are a regular part of the international climate policy agenda, this is could constitute a clear and sustainable signal for decarbonisation. What else is being needed by investors, in particular in the energy sector, to...

Why Are Chinese MNEs not Financially Competitive in Cross-Border Acquisitions? The Role of State-Ownership

While MNEs from emerging markets — and China in particular — tend to pay high acquisition premiums when they engage in cross-border acquisition activity, the determinants of this overbidding are not completely understood. We argue that state ownership is a key factor in explaining the high acquisition premiums paid by emerging-market multinationals. Employing data on 450 Chinese outward cross-border ...

Correcting for Self-Selection Based Endogeneity in Management Research: Review, Recommendations and Simulations

Foundational to management is the idea that organizational decisions are a function of expected outcomes; hence, the customary empirical approach to employ multivariate techniques that regress performance outcome variables on discrete measures of organizational choices (e.g., investments, trainings, strategies and other managerial decision variables) potentially suffer from self-selection based endogeneity ...

Road and Rail Infrastructure Costs

About Attitudes and Perceptions: Finding the Proper Way to Consider Latent Variables in Discrete Choice Models

We provide an in-depth theoretical discussion about the differences between individual-specific latent constructs (representing attitudes, for example, but also other characteristics such as values or personality traits) and alternative-specific latent constructs (that may represent perceptions) affecting the choice-making process of individuals; we also carry out an empirical exercise to analyze their ...

Strategic Bidding in Multi-unit Auctions with Capacity Constrained Bidders: The New York Capacity Market

This article employs a simple model to describe bidding behavior in multi-unit uniform price procurement auctions when firms are capacity constrained. Using data from the New York City procurement auctions for power generating capacity, I find that firms use simple bidding strategies to coordinate on an equilibrium that extracts high rents for all bidders. I show theoretically and empirically that ...

Veronika Bertram-Hümmer receives the University Meets Microfinance Award

Veronika Bertram-Hümmer, has been honored for her research with the University Meets Microfinance Award. The outstanding section of her doctoral dissertation was also published as a DIW Discussion Paper in collaboration with Kati Krähnert, Head of Development and Security. Their research demonstrates that an index-based weather insurance can help households in developing countries, such ...